To love or accept

To love or accept

As a mom only of boys, I have learned to both love and accept many things.

I have learned to love ironing pants. I have learned to love the ease of shopping for boys, both online and in the mall (since I hate shopping and really hate going to malls). I have learned to love batting practice and sitting in the car to reach baseball stadiums in faraway places. I have learned to love the myriad of boys who come in and out of my house, treat the snack drawer like it is their own personal canteen, and help themselves to anything in the refrigerator (except for the kid who ate all the chocolate I bought myself in Israel. And no, he wasn’t eating it so I wouldn’t put on weight…)

I have learned to love the fact that son #2’s room has been turned into a hotel room since he has been in Israel (and really love the fact that I have so many pillow cases and sheets that keep being washed, dried, and changed). I have learned to love the seat always being up (and really love and appreciate the fact that husband #1 always puts the seat back down in our bathroom. See, I give credit where credit is due!). And I have learned to love the fact that the only person who gets really cranky every month still is me… (Was that crossing a line?)

Wow, it seems that I have learned to love a lot of things!

So you might be wondering what I have learned only to accept. (Are you really wondering that? Are you still reading this? I hope so…)

Football. I do not love football. At all. I don’t understand it, I never have played it, and I just don’t get it. I accept the fact that for the next several weeks, I will have no place to sit on Sunday afternoons. Husband #1 takes over my woman-cave (which we call the “bunker”), Son #1 stops learning long enough to watch his team in the family room, and son #3 takes over my room (which is also husband #1’s room). I have learned to accept all of these things (and also that it is a really good time to go to Trader Joe’s and Shoprite…)

I also have accepted the fact that the world seems to be falling apart. I have accepted the fact that our president has a tweeting problem, but that some of the issues that have happened as of late, also happened when we had a different president. Yes, I am talking about the “what football players do during the national anthem” problem.

I don’t like getting political for many reasons, one of them being that my house receives only the New York Post, and we only get it on the weekends, so I really have no idea what is going on in the world unless someone posts it on Facebook. I know that there are many things wrong with that — but we won’t get into it.

So if I only accept football and I don’t like getting political, what am I trying to say? Football and politics don’t mix. The national anthem is not political. In my opinion, isn’t the national anthem a musical homage to all those who have fought for our freedoms? Who sacrificed life and limb to keep us safe? That isn’t political.

And isn’t football a game that revolves around a ball? And running? And possibly feet? (It is called “foot” ball.) Over a year ago, a player I had never heard of, since he wasn’t on the Vikings, Panthers, or Rams, oh my, Colin Kaepernick, “took a knee” during the national anthem because he “didn’t want to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.” (This was a quote that I found when I googled the correct spelling of the player’s name.)

By doing this, didn’t he disrespect all those people of all colors who fought for their country? Which is his country, the country that pays its football players way too much money?

Sports are the great American pastime. Sports are supposed to unite us. No politics. Just people from all backgrounds coming together to cheer on their team. Do I think it is a total waste of time? Sometimes. (Except for hockey, because those players are really nice to look at.) But sports definitely shouldn’t be political. So to all of those football players who decided to make it political, thank you for making my decision not to love you an easy one.

Please give me my Sundays back!!

Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck hopes this piece didn’t offend anyone. She is more than grateful to the VA for all of the wonderful services they have offered her father and veterans of the armed forces of this great country of ours!

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